I’m currently sat in my little guest house in an area called Tha Lane, about 30km from Krabi airport…. Later today I’ll be heading over to the pier to get a boat over to Koh Yao Noi for the yoga retreat I’m staying at over Xmas. Before I make my way I thought I’d try and get myself a bit more up to date with the journal so as not to fall too behind if there are people to speak to / things to do when I get to the island!
Last time I wrote we were just about to head up over to Pai in the Mae Hong Son region of northern Thailand where we were...

Being in Pai brings a smile to my lips. There is a very laid back, hippy atmosphere that I am incredibly fond of. Wandering the streets here is like wandering through a festival.
The people are friendly, the food is plentiful, the music is relaxed, and the shopping is fun. We have spent hours just enjoying the town as well as exploring the beauty of the surrounding countryside. A short journey out of town offered us waterfalls, hot springs and caves.
I find myself relaxing into the pace of life here. The infamous bus journey from Chiang Mai...

Sunday, 19 January.
As usual, Lek and I had an early breakfast. After that she disappeared a short time, to see her employer. At noon Peter arrived to Smith Residence with his car, together with Pom. Soon after we all was on our way northbound through the surburbs of Chiang Mai, to Pai. The whole trip to Pai is about 140 kilometer and are supposed to include 860 curves and bends. As long we were travelling in the Chiang Mai Province, it was no problem, mostly highway's. It was when we entered the Mae Hong Song Province, where the majority...

We got a minibus to Pai - it started off as a comfortable journey but an hour and a half in, there were 720 turns up and down the mountain started! It was all fine and I was chatting away to Bryan and a guy we had met, Jo in the bus whilst Michelle slept, then I started to feel so queasy! It was like being on tea cup ride - luckily for the others I had to sit in silence for a good half hour before we eventually arrived in Pai. I was warned by several people even if you don't get travel sick you will on this ride and they were right!
Pai is...

We left Kanchanaburi and took a bus to Bangkok (our 4th time in Bangkok in the last 2 weeks) so we could take an overnight bus to Chiang Mai and then catch a bus to Pai. We hung out at the bus station for a few hours and got some dinner before getting on the overnight bus. The bus ride was the worst we've had thus far. Roslyn and I got into our seats and immediately smelled a horrible odor coming from the seats in front of us. We first smelled ourselves to make sure we weren't giving off whiffs of bad body odor, but Roslyn said there was no...

WOW. Ok so last night was amazing and bad at the same time. The festival was awesome with good music, good people and good alcohol. We get there after the shuttle took us down a dirt road lined with torches for about 10 min in the back of a truck bed. When we get there we paid for our tickets and walked down this tented walkway down the side of a mountain. We get to the main area and there were a bunch of food stands and one bar stand but a good amount of people had attended already. we take a look around and head for the bar. I got a...

Negatives about today: (1) some sunburn; (2) some minor blisters from a lot of hilly (steep!) walking; (3) fear we'd be homeless for the night
Positives: (1) Cave Lodge breakfast of oat porridge with milk, honey, and bananas; (2) beautiful views and interesting sights along the 6km hike to a nearby Karen village, and then beyond; (3) the fish pond-- a place in the stream where hundreds of fish swarmed and the locals swarmed as well, throwing in leaves for them with much laughter; (4) amazingly delicious lunch back at the Cave Lodge- rice...

So after I signed off my last journal it was about 2am and Ella and Roslyn were not back from the bar. I tried to sleep but was waking up every 40min or so wondering where they were. Around 3:40 am I woke from a dream of them screaming out my name in panic. I waited for like 15 min then went to Talya's and Roslyn's room because I thought they might be there. As soon as I opened the door Talya popped up and looked as worried as me. She had been waking up a lot as well waiting for them. We talked about what we thought could have happened but...

So today we all woke up and got ready for breakfast. Let me tell you it might be 90 degrees during the day here but at night it is FREEZING! It was cold this morning while looking for a decent place to eat. The weather up there in the mountains is silly. We decided to eat at this place called the witching well. It was cute and reasonably priced. The food was really good (as most place we find in Thailand are:)) By the end of breakfast it had warmed up and we headed back to change into shorts and t shirts. The area where we are staying is...

We arrived at the bus station in Pai. Ella and I really had to pee so we left out stuff with the other girls in search of a bathroom. When we returned the other girls did the same but returned with a place to stay instead. We checked it out and it was decent enough 2 places down from the bus station. It was cheap and seemed like a good location so we settled in and went (of course) in search of food. We found a cute little restaurant with bomb food that was very inexpensive. After we ate and talked out a couple group issues we went to walk...

(didn't feel like writing day-of; this entry made on 1/26)
We tried to return to the noodle soup lady this morning, but she hadn't set up shop. So we breakfasted at a more touristy (but still tasty) place on the main backpacker strip. Pad thai and a thai omelet. Mmm!
Then, off to the bus station in a song-thaew. We were lucky at the station, as there were still seats available on the bus to Pai, which was leaving in an hour. The bus was full of backpackers and there was an impressive pile of packs in the back. Seats were cramped, but at...